


The Ice Palace

by Multiple_Universes



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Historical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 05:07:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9476942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multiple_Universes/pseuds/Multiple_Universes
Summary: Steven Taylor remembers a time when he, the Doctor and Vicki saw something incredible in Russia.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a historical adventure, which I tried to keep historically accurate (I apologize for any inconsistencies). This fanfiction was written for the Classic Who and Doctor Who EU Secret Santa exchange on Tumblr (and originally posted there).

Steven Taylor sat by a window and stared outside. This wasn’t out of any particular interest of what was going on out there. No, he’d long abandoned that just like he’d abandoned the throne. He stared outside because that was somewhere to stare.

A bird circled in the sky and Steven closed his eyes. Just for a moment he could imagine what it was like to fly. Not the kind of flight that involved spreading your wings, but the kind of flight usually assisted by a vehicle of some sort.

 

_“Pre-flight checks complete. Fuel system on,” Steven went through the procedure meticulously. Step by step, just like in the manuals._

_In a telemetry room with a big window and lots of instruments several examiners were watching, but they didn’t matter._

_He needed this flight to be perfect, without a hitch. It was his first solo flight and he wouldn’t have anything go wrong on him. Not now. He checked everything twice. Then he turned the engines on._

_And now for the moment of truth._

_“Speed increasing steadily. Fuel flow as normal. Temperature readings within safety margins.” The training and test was carried out without an autopilot (obviously) and without the aid of any automated system. This meant that he had to monitor all of the readings himself and call them out for the benefit of the cockpit voice recorder and the examiners in the telemetry room. “And takeoff.”_

_After that he remained silent. He had no idea what they were saying to him. He wasn’t listening. He just took in the view and flew._

_And flew_

_Oh, how he flew!_

_It was probably the feeling a bird gets when it first spreads its wings properly as it takes to the skies and leaves its nest._

_“And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,” he whispered._

 

Something bit him and he stirred. Steven opened his eyes. The bird in the sky was gone.

He was starting to feel the cold creep into his body. He got up and paced the length of the room to warm up. Once, a long time ago, it’s possible he would have done some more rigorous exercising. He sat down after a while. There was no way to avoid it. Age was starting to catch up with him.

But he couldn’t stay still. He was pacing like a lion in a cage. A cold cage.

That thought set off a memory he hadn’t revisited for years…

 

This time the Doctor had really done it, Steven decided, he threw them in a life-threatening situation that was completely of his own making. There were no excuses he could make this time. Not even the excuse of the TARDIS not working properly, or of the Doctor’s inability to control it – two facts the Doctor didn’t like to hear said aloud.

Steven was furious.

They had arrived at their next destination as usual, but the Doctor and Steven hadn’t noticed this, because they were arguing. As always, Vicki was doing her best to calm them down.

They were arguing for the hundredth time about the Doctor teaching Steven how to fly the TARDIS.

The Doctor was adamant. Steven Taylor would never understand how it was done. He simply didn’t have enough knowledge.

Steven argued, as reasonably as he could, that the least the Doctor could do was show him some of the basics. He was a pilot with several years of experience on deep space missions.

But time travel was different, the Doctor insisted.

“We’ve landed!” Vicki exclaimed, hoping that maybe this would put an end to the argument.

“Good!” the Doctor said and the argument really did end at that.

He didn’t check his instruments. He didn’t activate the scanner. He opened the doors and ushered them out. Then he locked the doors and set off.

Five minutes later Steven had to fight the urge to curse. Next to him Vicki was shivering. The Doctor rushed on ahead, as if he was chased by monsters (which, just this once, he wasn’t).

Around them the wind and snow raged.

“Doctor! Please stop!” Steven caught the Doctor by the arm. “Where are you running? Don’t you see where we are? We landed in the middle of a blizzard! It’s who knows how many degrees below zero and we’re not dressed for this weather!”

The Doctor turned around and stared at them. “Eh?”

“Let’s go back to the TARDIS, Doctor,” Vicki pleaded. “We can get warm clothes and then come out and explore properly.”

“Of course! Of course!”

They turned around and headed back. Steven could feel his teeth chattering as the wind blew right through him and he hugged himself for comfort. Beside him Vicki looked like she was turning blue.

They ran for at least ten minutes, but the TARDIS didn’t appear. Still they went on without a single word.

Time passed. The TARDIS remained hidden from view. They were trapped in a world of white.

“We must have gone the wrong way,” the Doctor said. “Let’s try a different direction.”

And so they did. Or, at least, they thought they did. It was hard to distinguish directions without any points of reference. They could only tell up from down for certain.

Minutes seemed to stretch out forever.

“We can split up,” Vicki suggested. “That will make the search faster.”

“We’re not splitting up,” Steven said firmly. “We will only lose each other in this storm.”

“It’s so cold!” Vicki rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself. “I wonder where we are.”

The Doctor wrapped his cloak around her, pulling the girl close to him. “Who knows, dear child? We could be on Earth. We could be in a completely different galaxy on the other side of the universe.”

“We should have checked the readings before leaving!” Vicki lamented.

“Too late for that now,” Steven said. “What we need is a way to keep warm. Maybe if we keep going we’ll find a cave or somewhere else we can wait out this storm.”

“An excellent idea!” the Doctor agreed.

There was something sheepish in the Doctor’s manner and Steven wondered if the Doctor was going to apologize this once. But the Doctor remained quiet, pulling Vicki along with him and trying to keep her warm. Everyone kept rubbing themselves to keep their blood flowing.

The sky darkened and night fell remarkably fast.

It felt like several hours later when Vicki grabbed the Doctor’s hand and shouted, “Look over there! There’s a light!”

They ran as quickly as their legs could take them. Steven kept an eye on Vicki and the Doctor the whole time, making sure that neither of them fell behind and got lost.

Eventually the lights turned out to be the windows of several houses.

Vicki hammered desperately on the door of the closest one.

An elderly man with a thick beard opened it and stared at them in bewilderment.

“Please, can you help us? We lost our… transport in the snow.”

A woman pushed him aside and pulled the three travellers inside. The door closed behind them.

“Are you out of your mind?” she exclaimed. “Going out in a blizzard dressed like that?”

Steven looked at her clothes and compared them to his own. This wasn’t going to be easy to explain.

“We’re foreigners,” the Doctor said. “We’re from the south and we have never seen snow before.”

“Where did you come from, then?” the woman demanded, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Italy,” the Doctor said without a moment of hesitation.

The woman grabbed Vicki by the arm and pulled her to the fire. “You’re as cold as ice! And all blue!” She grabbed Vicki’s nose.

“Ow! What are you –?”

“Do you want your nose to freeze off?”

Steven watched the woman fuss over Vicki and worried. The last thing they needed now was hypothermia!

After a change of clothes, a bowl of hot soup and a big mug of scalding tea they sat at the table and had proper introductions.

“I’m Boris,” the old man said, “and this is my wife, Dasha. In all our thirty years of living here we’ve seen many things, had kids, buried dead family, endured the cold, and the heat, and bad crops, and good crops, but never have we seen foreigners before.”

That gave them their current location, but as for the year…

“Are you really foreigners?” Dasha eyed them suspiciously. “Italians? You speak really good Russian for foreigners!”

The Doctor saw the looks on their hosts’ faces and rushed to correct the situation. “What we mean is that we’ve been to Italy and we just returned. We’ve stayed there so long that we were starting to feel like Italians ourselves. We were attacked on the road and our things were stolen.”

“And you won’t be trying to turn us all into Catholics, will you?” Dasha demanded.

“Catholics? Of course not! None of us are Catholics. I give you my word!” the Doctor promised and Steven reflected that _technically_ this was true, since he was a Protestant. Who knew what the Doctor believed in? And he wasn’t sure about Vicki.

“Hmmm... What are your names?” Boris asked in a tone that suggested he was willing to accept the explanation for now.

“We got used to foreign names, because foreigners can’t pronounce Russian names,” the Doctor started. “This is Steven, his real name is Stepan, of course.”

Vicki suppressed a giggle.

“And Vika, my niece.” The Doctor straightened up in a way that Steven knew all too well. “I’m commonly referred to as Doctor Kto, but you can call me Doctor.”

“Sounds like a magician’s name. You’re not performers, are you?”

“No, no,” they reassured Dasha all at the same time.

“Is it far from here to Italy?” Boris asked.

“Seven months’ ride in a carriage,” the Doctor answered.

“What did you want in Italy?” Dasha asked as she cleared the table. She cleaned and washed the plates as Boris sat over a mug of tea and brooded.

Now they were warm, Steven and Vicki took their surroundings in. They were in a hut with one room that served as kitchen, bedroom and living room. A big Russian stove took up most of the room and filled it with warmth.

“We wanted to visit new places.”

 “What’s the point of seeing new places?”

“We are travellers,” the Doctor explained. He saw the look on the old man’s face and added, “We believe that travel broadens the mind, teaches us something new.”

“How to survive a cold winter for a start…” Steven muttered.

Vicki yawned. Her eyelids were dropping. Steven smiled at her.

“We’ll talk more in the morning,” Boris promised, getting up.

“Where will we all sleep?” Vicki asked.

“Plenty of room on the stove,” Dasha said. “Climb on, child.”

“Is that safe?” Vicki looked at the Doctor, as if asking him.

“It’s warm.” Boris shrugged.

Vicki climbed up, followed by Steven. The Doctor remained at the table. He had more questions for Boris and Dasha.

“Steven!” Vicki hissed. “Something bit me!”

“It’s probably just this itchy blanket. You’re too sensitive.” What could possibly bite them here?

“I’m not,” Vicki protested. She might have argued more, but her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

Steven tried to move into a comfortable position without disturbing her. He closed his eyes and tried to push all thoughts of the storm outside and the TARDIS out of his mind. This turned out to be much easier than he’d imagined.

 

Morning came, but the world outside was still just as white as before. Steven sat by the window, trying to think of a way to get back to the TARDIS.

“Good morning, Mr. Grumpy!” Vicki exclaimed.

Steven turned away from the window and forced a smile. “Good morning!”

“Not much of a view is there?”

“How long do these storms last?” Steven asked Boris who sat by the door, cutting something out of a piece of wood.

“Sometimes for days,” came the answer.

“It appears we have no choice but to stay there,” the Doctor said.

“We can’t just –” Vicki began.

“Nonsense! You will stay with us,” Dasha interrupted in a tone that would accept no argument.

So they stayed. Vicki helped Dasha with chores around the house, Steven helped Boris with the more strenuous tasks and the Doctor just spent hours in silent contemplation. Sometimes he would tell stories of other worlds. Dasha and Boris listened and seemed to believe everything. They, in turn, told the travellers about their village and the people who lived there.

 

One particularly cold morning they were woken up by the sound of tolling bells, calling everyone to morning mass.

“Hurry up!” Dasha called, tossing clothes up onto the waking forms of Vicki and Steven.

“What’s that ringing for?” Vicki asked, rubbing her eyes.

“What kind of question is that?” Dasha demanded. “Get dressed! Quickly! It’s time for church! Did you forget to go to church in Italy?”

“Yes, but the storm…” Vicki tried to argue.

“If you’re not in church then what will they think of us? Heretics they’ll call us! Pagans!” She spat. “God forgive me!”

“Does it matter?” Vicki asked.

“What kind of stupid question is that? Oh God, please don’t mind this silly girl. She is too young to understand. Hurry up! There’s no time!” Dasha wrapped clothes around Vicki and held out a big fur coat to Steven. It looked worn out in some places and was obviously patched up more than once.

The Doctor was putting on a similar coat and having trouble with the sleeves. Stephen got dressed quickly and rushed to help the Doctor, but was brushed aside indignantly.

They ran out together. The blizzard wasn’t as strong as it had been the day before, but still the icy wind blew snowflakes in their faces. Vicki covered up with a scarf as much as she could and clung to Steven’s arm. Steven grabbed the Doctor with his other arm and they moved as one.

Vicki giggled. It was funny how they moved almost sideways and huddled together like animals she’d seen in a program once.

“Quiet, child!” Dasha hissed. “What will they think if they see you laughing like that? Are you mocking God?”

“Vicki,” Steven whispered, “I think everyone here is very religious, so be careful.”

“Sorry,” Vicki said, willing her face to be serious. “I won’t do it again.”

“Good,” Dasha huffed.

There were crowds outside the church now. It looked as if every person from the houses in the village had turned up. They were all quiet with serious looks on those parts of faces Steven could see. Two beggars stood at the doors of the church, holding out their hands and pleading for money. Both Steven and Vicki stared at them in shock.

“Please, dear child, have mercy and God will bless you. You will grow up beautiful and God will send you a good husband.”

Vicki simply said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any money. I’d give you some, if I could.”

Steven remained silent, watching the Doctor to see what he will do.

“Please, kind old man, we left our city behind and we can never go back.”

The Doctor rummaged in his pockets and pulled out something that looked like several old coins. He gave both beggars one each and they crossed him one after the other. He lowered his head, accepting their blessings, and said nothing. Then he entered the church.

Steven and Vicki exchanged glances and followed him in. (Later Dasha berated the Doctor for his soft heart, saying that the beggars were nothing more than drunks who owed money, but spent all they could get on drink.)

The church was a simple wooden building with several frescoes on the walls that looked like they were made by one of the priests who took up painting as a hobby. People filled up the church so that it was packed tightly except at the front where a priest stood at the altar.

Vicki shifted uncomfortably, earning several angry stares from her neighbours. Steven offered her his elbow to hold on to. It was getting hard to breathe.

The mass seemed to go on forever and Vicki didn’t need to pretend to be miserable by its end. The Doctor looked around curiously as he stood, leaning on his cane, but if he noticed anything that sparked his interest, he kept his observations to himself.

 _If this seems strange to us, Vicki and me,_ Steven thought, _how odd must it seem for the Doctor!_

 

There was a constant atmosphere of suspicion, which Vicki found harder to deal with than being cooped up inside. She was also constantly getting reprimanded for not knowing about God, or the Bible, or what to do in church.

Steven could see this really upset her, especially since she considered most of that silly superstition while she herself had knowledge that was actually useful, knew science which obviously hadn’t been invented yet. She didn’t say any of this to Steven, but one night she sat next to him and only whispered, “It’s really hard.”

 

One morning Steven woke up because Vicki was shaking him. “Get up! Get up, sleepyhead!”

He crawled out from under the blankets and off the stove. “What is it?”

“The storm is over! Look! It’s so nice outside!”

They stood by the window, peering out. Fields of snow stretched out as far as the eye could see, framed on one side by a forest. The blue sky stretched above and the sun shone brightly somewhere out of view.

“I want to build a snowman!” Vicki announced and ran out, pulling on a coat. She ran back in an instant later, shivering, her teeth chattering from the cold. “It’s freezing out there!”

Dasha and Boris laughed. “Don’t be fooled by the sun. When the day is clear is when the cold strikes.”

Vicki peered out again. The snow sparkled in the sun like icing on a cake. “First the storm, now the cold!” She was getting restless.

Steven knew the feeling: being cooped up felt too much like being imprisoned.

The Doctor remained at the table, calmly drinking tea. “You must have some kind of transport, hmm, Boris?”

“I take the cart when I need to go somewhere.”

“A cart won’t be much use in this snow,” Steven pointed out.

“It will be a difficult journey,” Boris admitted, “but I will take you.”

“We can’t ask you to do that!” Vicki protested. “What about Dasha?”

“I’ll be fine. Who will travel in weather like this? Or would you rather stay here the whole winter?”

Vicki shivered.

“We will leave at dawn tomorrow,” Boris said.

The rest of the day was spent clearing the snow around the hut and bringing pails of it into the house for water.

 

The following morning started with a farewell with Dasha. Vicki, Steven and the Doctor stepped outside to let her have a moment alone with her husband.

Vicki eyed the Doctor curiously. “Did you find out what year it is?”

“I didn’t.”

Boris and Dasha stepped out. The old man pulled his hat and mittens on and gave Dasha a parting kiss. Everyone climbed on the cart and they were off. The Doctor took a place next to Boris at the front.

The journey was long and difficult. Several times they stopped to clear the way when the snow got too high. But at least it warmed them up after long periods of sitting on the cart.

The cold was treacherous. It seeped through several layers of clothing, seeking out gaps or holes. It inserted needles in the face and numbed fingers. It could blow right through you and chill you to the bone. But despite all this, Steven enjoyed studying the frozen trees and the snow-covered hills as they passed them. Occasionally he’d remember to rub his face to keep it from freezing.

Steven stared at Vicki who sat opposite him. She was wrapped up in several layers, including a shawl over her head. “You look like you’ve gone native,” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

Vicki laughed. “So do you!”

Their road was empty. No one else dared venture out into the snow.

“I feel like everyone left and now we have the world to ourselves,” Vicki said.

“Our own winter wonderland?” Steven joked.

Then it occurred to Vicki. “Hold on! Where are we going?”

Steven opened his mouth for what would, no doubt, have been a joke at Vicki’s expense, but realized that she was right. “Doctor, just where are we going?”

The Doctor chuckled. “Why, to St. Petersburg, of course! Where else?”

“But what about the TARDIS?” Vicki asked.

“Plenty of time to find it later. Why can’t we have a look around?”

 _Because usually that gets us into trouble_ , Steven thought, but didn’t say it in case it stirred up trouble now. Boris wasn’t listening to their conversation, but the Doctor looked in the right mood for a pointless argument.

Vicki went from confusion to excitement in a moment. “We’ll get to see St. Petersburg! Great! I’ve always wanted to see it! I didn’t get to go, well, because…” she trailed off and lowered her eyes.

He knew. St. Petersburg had flooded by Vicki’s time. The devastation from the Dalek invasion had been too great. The city was nothing more than ruins and when it flooded it had come as some kind of relief. Later on they built New St. Petersburg to replace the old one.

“I had a friend from New St. Petersburg,” Steven mused. “Well, I say friend. He was more of a casual acquaintance. We trained to be pilots in the same class.”

 

_“I don’t think these systems are functional, Instructor.”_

_“What is the problem now, Chekhov?”_

_“These altimeters have readings that are too far apart. Back at the pilots’ courses I took in New St. Petersburg they would’ve thrown these out.”_

_He always talked about his previous pilot’s training, taking each chance to remind everyone of his great experience. And, of course, the response had frequently been: “Why didn’t you get your pilot’s license in New St. Petersburg, then?” And the answer had always been evasive. Probably because he’d failed his training. No one knew for certain and no one bothered to find out, because what would have been the point?_

_“Taylor, I want you to check the altimeters.”_

“Steven!” Vicki nudged him.

“Hmm—Sorry, what?”

“Don’t dose off!”

“I wasn’t dosing off. I was just remembering.”

 

_“I’m tired of explaining this simple concept to you, Chekhov,” the instructor sighed. “Taylor, you show him._

_Steven climbed into the pilot’s seat._

_“Now,” the instructor folded his hands behind his back. “Show us what happens if we follow Chekhov’s solution to the problem.”_

_Steven flicked a bunch of switches and turned a dial._

_“Good. You see? Now return to the normal configuration and show us my scenario.”_

_Steven obeyed, flicking different switches this time._

_“That’s what I meant!” Chekhov protested. “You never understand me!”_

_The instructor turned away to hide the expression on his face._

_“I’m not stupid. I know how to fly! I have experience!”_

 

They arrived four days after they’d left Dasha. As they neared the city houses started to appear and grow in number. There were also other people around them now.

Vicki stared wide-eyed at everything, as if trying to take in as many details as possible: the wooden houses with their neat windows, the merchants and their interesting wares, the smells of food, the carts, the crowds, the noise and the shouts.

Vicki leaned close to Steven. “Do you have any money?” she whispered in his ear.

“Of course not.”

She raised her eyebrows. “How will we pay for anything? I don’t think the Doctor has any money!”

“We’ll have to earn it, I guess.”

“How?”

Steven shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“We can have the amazing Steven Taylor show us some tricks!”

“I think the amazing Vicki should show us some tricks.”

“Not a chance!” she elbowed him and giggled.

That was when Steven caught the end of the Doctor and Boris’ conversation:

“It’s a short ride from here, but with all of these carts –” Boris was saying.

“That’s quite alright, young man. We will get off here.”

“Young man?” Boris repeated incredulously. “I don’t think I’m younger than you…”

They climbed off. Vicki and Steven helped the Doctor get down as he chuckled mischievously to himself. Vicki couldn’t help grinning. Steven laughed a little as well.

The Doctor then fumbled in his pockets and pulled out a gold coin. “Here you are! Give our regards to Dasha.”

Boris shook his head. “I don’t want it. You were my guests. I don’t need payment.”

“That’s just as well,” the Doctor mumbled, pocketing it. “I very nearly gave him a napoleon d’or.”

The name meant nothing to Vicki and Steven, so neither of them knew what to say to that.

“This way, I think.” The Doctor led them through the crowd confidently, as if he’d been there before.

“Doctor,” Steven said quietly, holding Vicki by the arm to keep her from wandering off (she was in one of her curious moods when she found everything fascinating), “have you ever visited St. Petersburg?”

The Doctor considered this. “I’m not sure if I have.”

“You don’t remember?” Vicki asked, suppressing a smile.

“Don’t be silly, child! I've landed on Earth several times, without ever finding out exactly where I was.”

Steven and Vicki exchanged a look. There was no point arguing with the Doctor.

The city was not like the cities that Vicki and Steven were used to. The two of them had grown up among cities of glass and metal. St. Petersburg was a city of wood and stone and many churches. It was a city in its infancy. They walked down the street that the Doctor told them would one day be called Nevsky Prospect and past a tall stone building with columns.

“Gostiny Dvor,” the Doctor said by way of explanation, but that meant nothing to the two young travellers. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

Inside turned out to be a marketplace selling everything from caviar to fabrics. The place was full of merchants who surrounded everyone who passed, trying to sell something. “Wooden spoons! Buy some wooden spoons!” “No, what you really need is some fabric for a new dress!”

They progressed slowly through the crowd, on the lookout for any wonder to catch their eye. Sometimes it would be a merchant. Sometimes it would be something for sale. The clothing some people wore caught their attention with its bright colours. Several times Vicki wondered aloud if the TARDIS wardrobes had anything similar.

Delicious smells reminded them that they hadn’t eaten for a long time and the Doctor managed to find something in his pockets that was accepted as currency.

Eventually they slipped out and made their way to the heart of the capital, which brought up another topic.

“In my time New St. Petersburg is the capital of Russia,” Vicki said.

“It was Moscow in mine, if I remember correctly,” Steven told her.

The Doctor just chuckled and hummed something to himself.

Vicki waited for the Doctor to elaborate and caught Steven’s eye. It didn’t look like they were going to get a history lecture so they dropped the subject.

“What’s that?” Vicki suddenly exclaimed and they all turned.

Soldiers were pushing the crowd aside, making way for a strange procession. People in what Steven assumed were national costumes were making their way in pairs, riding all kinds of animals: pigs, ponies, horses, oxen, dogs, camels. There were hundreds of pairs in this strange procession.

He stared at the camels in disbelief. Everyone looked like they were frozen both from the cold as well as terror: soldiers accompanied everyone closely and beat anyone who got in the way of the procession. At the end of this strange parade an oddly-dressed pair rode on an elephant in something that looked like a cage.

“It looks like… a wedding!” Vicki sounded bewildered. “That’s so strange!”

The Doctor chuckled. “Is it, indeed? That means I know exactly when we are.”

“You do?” Steven and Vicki turned to face the Doctor.

“Yes, 1740. And they are…” there was a mischievous grin on his face. “Well! The monarch currently on the throne is Anna Ioannovna and,” he lowered his voice, “likes to find new ways to amuse herself. Like most monarchs.” He chuckled and looked extremely pleased with himself. “This will be interesting. Come along!”

Vicki and Steven followed him through the crowd after exchanging a brief glance. What was the old man up to now?

“What’s going on?” Vicki asked. “What happened in 1740?”

“You’ll see,” the Doctor promised.

Steven tried to remember, but history – especially Russian history – wasn’t his strong suit. He did recall a Tsar named Peter who many considered great for some reason… And he remembered something about a revolution. This made a chill go down his spine. He caught up with the Doctor and made the man stop and turn around to face him.

“There isn’t going to be a revolution, is there?”

“Revolution? Don’t be silly, young man. Anna Ioannovna dies in bed much later this year. And Elizabeth’s coup doesn’t happen until November 1741. And the Soviet Revolution – which is the one I suspect you’re thinking of – won’t happen for another 167 years.”

Next to Steven Vicki breathed a sigh of relief.

Steven wasn’t going to be reassured to easily. “What about war?”

“There’s nearly always a war in some shape at this point in history,” the Doctor said. “But we don’t need to fear one now.”

“Then what is happening?” Vicki asked.

“Like you said - a wedding.”

They rushed off to get a better look. They had to get up on tiptoe and crane their necks to see.

And then the travellers saw something which made all three of them stop and gasp.

In an area kept clear by guards stood a palace made entirely out of ice. The walls were more than three times the height of the average guard patrolling around it. A roof covered it, adding to its height. And the guards really could patrol around it, it being almost as wide as it was tall and three times as long as it was wide. The ice was painted to look like the house was made of tree trunks and windows on each side gave glimpses of the rooms inside.

Ice trees stood in the courtyard. Steam poured out of the small ice house that stood nearby.

The surroundings also merited some attention. On one side was the Winter Palace, while on the other side was the Admiralty with its tall gold spire.

“Vanya, Vanya!” someone was shouting in the crowd. “What is that little house for?”

“That’s the banya,” someone else answered. The Doctor explained to Vicki and Steven in a whisper that a banya was a Russian sauna where people bathed in steam.

“They shouldn’t have bothered!” someone shouted. “We have a banya at every corner!”

A loud laughter followed those words.

“What’s that lantern mean?” another member of the crowd asked, indicating an ice lantern painted with different pictures that could be turned around so the light inside could project the pictures onto the snow below.

There followed a long explanation that the travellers didn’t understand. The Doctor only whispered something about court intrigues.

A loud trumpeting made them all jump and the crowd grew silent and then shouted louder than before. Vicki, Steven and the Doctor pushed through the throng to get a better look at the source of the noise.

A life-size elephant made of ice stood next to the house.

“Is that a recording?” Vicki asked and then frowned. “They didn’t have recordings in 1740, did they? And they should have made the elephant nod his head!”

“There’s a person in there with a trumpet!” the Doctor pointed and Vicki gasped in astonishment.

“He must be freezing!”

From their new vantage point they could see dolphins and fish all made of ice and spouting fire.

“What is that smell?” Vicki asked and then, “How is –oh! That’s oil, isn’t it?”

“Well done, my dear!” the Doctor beamed.

“I didn’t know they still used oil in 1740!”

There was a loud booming noise, making them jump. Vicki clung to Steven. Then she saw a man standing next to an ice cannon and frowned. “What is that?”

The Doctor soon found himself explaining what a cannon was and how it worked. Steven and Vicki listened intently and both grasped the concept quickly.

“So these are weapons for war…” Vicki said thoughtfully. “But why put them here?”

Steven chuckled. “For the noise!”

“Precisely, my boy!”

“What’s the point of all this?” Vicki asked. “Who is getting married?”

“The empress is marrying off one of the servants to another one.”

“Do servants always get married in an ice palace?” Steven asked.

“Oh no, this is an amusement for the empress’s benefit,” the Doctor explained. “Many people criticized the empress for this mad scheme and the amount of effort and money that went into it.”

Steven sighed. He remembered the conditions in which Dasha and Boris lived.

“You said she dies soon…” Vicki recalled.

“That’s no excuse for madness!” the Doctor huffed. “The newlyweds are locked in the Ice Palace overnight and the guards don’t release them until morning when they come out barely alive.” He saw the looks on their faces. “We can’t do anything! This is history! Just like the empress’s death in a couple of months.”

Suddenly someone grabbed the Doctor’s arm and exclaimed, “I heard every word you said! Planning to kill the empress, are we?”

“What? Don’t be silly, just –” the Doctor huffed.

The next moment there were guards running in from all sides, converging on the three travellers.

“Here! Come here! The spies, the murderers are here!”

The crowd was letting the soldiers pass willingly. No one wanted to stand in their way. They preferred to squeeze against their neighbours.

“Run!” the Doctor shouted.

Without meaning to, the three of them ran in opposite directions.

But running through a crowd is hard, especially if the crowd is set against you. Steven ran, clearing his way with his elbows until he reached the edge of the crowd. There he stopped and took in his surroundings.

Vicki and the Doctor were nowhere to be seen. He felt his heart sink and wondered what he could do.

 

_“I’m telling you. I don’t understand why he picks on me,” Chekhov wailed. “I’m not stupid and I’m not worse than anyone here.”_

_Steven resisted the urge to say “It’s not what you know; it’s how you act”._

_“You all think that I can’t even do basic maneuvers, don’t you?” Chekhov asked the room full of pilots-in-training having lunch. “I’ll prove you wrong!”_

_He ran out and everyone ran after him, but they’d hesitated a moment and that gave him extra time._

_Extra time to climb into one of the fliers and take off._

_They stood and watched. What else could they do?_

_Chekhov made several circles around the place and then a complicated loop and, finally, a barrel roll._

_They applauded. How could they not?_

_“You’ve made your point,” someone shouted. “Come down!”_

_But something went terribly wrong and the flier started to make loops that were too erratic for them to have been done on purpose._

_“That’s not right,” someone said._

_Without stopping to think it over, Steven jumped into a flier, started it up and took off._

_“Chekhov? Chekhov, can you hear me?”_

_“I-I can, Taylor. Where – are you flying towards me?”_

_“Yes, I am.”_

_“Don’t! There is an electrical fault. This flier will explode in 100 seconds. I will eject myself. You will catch me. Got that?”_

_“I will catch you.”_

_“Excellent.”_

_A little shape shot out from the flier as Steven moved his own in position. Then there was an explosion. He activated his tractor beam and shields._

_As soon as Chekhov got on board he looked over the controls._

_“Chekhov! What are you doing? Are you insane? How could you –”_

_“This flier has the same flaw. You need to land quickly.”_

_“What?”_

_“Give me the controls.”_

_“That’s alright. I can do this.”_

_It felt like eternity passed before they landed. They remained quiet throughout the descent. All words seemed pointless during those minutes._

_The flier touched down and they scrambled out. Only when they were several meters away did Steven let out a sigh of relief._

_“Good job, Taylor!” Chekhov nudged him._

_The other pilots surrounded them, chatting excitedly and clapping Steven on the back._

_“Good job! Good job!”_

_The instructor would be furious, of course, but at that moment it didn’t matter._

_Steven gave Chekhov a smile. “You’re one of us now, Chekhov.”_

_Chekhov simply laughed._

 

Steven thought furiously and then decided to go around the crowd to see if he could find his travelling companions. He apologized as he pushed past people, occasionally getting up on tiptoe to look above the sea of heads.

Unbidden came thoughts about getting stranded. He took this possibility calmly. He wouldn’t be stranded alone. Of course this seemed to be a time of little technological advancement, but perhaps he could help. He’d seen enough to realize how poor people were. Surely the benefit of being from the future—

He realized he was trying to convince himself and stopped. It wasn’t working.

Far ahead the Ice Palace gleamed like a giant sapphire.

Then Steven caught a glimpse of a head that looked familiar, heard, “Let go of me! I didn’t do anything wrong!” and ran.

Or, rather, ran as much as a man stuck in a crowd could.

A well-aimed punch helped him free Vicki from the guard who held her.

“Steven! Where is the Doctor?”

“I don’t know.”

Vicki grabbed his arm and pulled him further into the crowd.

After an hour they reached the perimeter formed by the guard. Steven pulled Vicki back and then they heard:

“Oh yes, very great idea, indeed!”

They turned at the sound of the familiar voice.

The Doctor stood, hands on the lapels of his coat, his usual clothes looking more foreign than ever under Boris’ big coat. Three guards surrounded him. Anna Ioannovna stood in front of him.

“Are you insulting us?”

“Not insulting, no, merely thinking aloud. When the winter is colder than normal people usually try to keep warm and kind people help others keep warm. What do you do? You build a palace of ice and hold a wedding!” The Doctor broke out into a smile. “Always trying to do the unexpected!”

Anna smiled back.

“But why do the unexpected if it ends with you being cruel?” The Doctor slipped a hand in his pocket and then threw something in the air. It gleamed in the light of the lamps surrounding the empress and everyone saw it was a gold coin.

The guards rushed forward to catch it and the Doctor ran.

The crowds seemed to explode into utter chaos.

 

In a cold room no-longer-king Steven smiled as he remembered that chase through the crowd, while holding on tightly to Vicki and the Doctor. They didn’t have to run for long once they broke out of the crowd, because the Doctor had found a horse and a cart and the rest, as they said on Earth, was geography.

Steven closed his eyes. Something was bothering him and it took a while to figure out what.

Then it came to him.

Not geography. History. The rest was history.

His mind was definitely starting to go. It couldn’t be long now.

Outside several birds took to the sky.


End file.
